Youth Seated by a Willow; Single Page Illustration (c. 1600–1650): Art, History and Details

Youth Seated by a Willow; Single Page Illustration (c. 1600–1650) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Muhammad Yusuf (Iranian).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

A new aesthetic developed under the socially and economically conscious Shah ’Abbas I (reigned 1587–1629). Single polychrome paintings of elegantly clad youth were produced in considerable number during the 1600s, primarily for people with means who collected them and had them mounted in albums. Instead of functioning as portraits, the images of these courtly figures express ideals of youth and beauty. This young man’s lavish sash and turban enriched with costly gold thread proclaim his high status.

Object facts

• Title: Youth Seated by a Willow; Single Page Illustration
• Date: c. 1600–1650
• Creator attribution: Muhammad Yusuf (Iranian)
• Culture: Iran, Isfahan, Safavid period (1501-1722)
• Type: Manuscript
• Technique: ink, gold, and colors on paper
• Dimensions: Sheet: 33.5 x 21.9 cm (13 3/16 x 8 5/8 in.); Image: 15 x 9.6 cm (5 7/8 x 3 3/4 in.)
• Collection: Islamic Art
• Department: Islamic Art
• Accession number: 1947.499

Collection credit

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Hollis, Howard C. “Two Seventeenth-Century Persian Miniatures.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 35, no. 4 (1948): 63–64.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.